In 2017 we want to challenge our congregation to "Dwell in the Word". It is common that people often start a new year with intentions to increase their Bible reading. Often this means that they start off in Genesis and Exodus doing pretty well with the stories that those books tell. Then the busyness of life begins to settle in again after the start of the year and it becomes more difficult to continue. On top of it all as you get to the end of Exodus and hit Leviticus and Numbers getting through some books of the Bible can be hard.

It is with this struggle in mind that we bring "Dwell in the Word". Instead of trying to read for volume this year we want to encourage everyone to absorb and get to know a book or two of the Bible really well. Our theme for "Dwell in the Word" is "Pick a book. Dig deep." You can pick any book of the Bible to dwell in but there are seven suggestions for you. For these seven books, we will help you out by providing resources that you can access to help you dig into what you are reading. These are curated lists with resources that include overviews of the book, expository commentaries (basically a book made up of sermons on that book of the Bible), and resources you can listen to on that book of the Bible. These will include resources that you can buy or resources that are available in the church library.

Here are the seven books we are encouraging you to dwell in along with a short description of that book:Mark: A fast-paced gospelActs: The History of the Early ChurchRomans: Justification by FaithGalatians: Works vs FaithEphesians: Grace in the Christian LifePhilippians: Imitating the Humble ChristHebrews: God has spoken in His Son

We also have suggestions on how you can "Dig Deep" into the book or books that you pick:Read the book.Read it again in one sitting.Read it slowly.Read it in another translation.Write out the book.Listen to the book.Memorize a part of the book.Use parts of the book in your prayers.Read the book along with a good, expository commentary on it.Listen to a teaching series on the book.

Many of the resources will be available to check out from the library. There will also be posts with links to resources here on the blog. We will print out some lists to have available too. The lists will be curated and updated regularly as resources are discovered so keep checking the blog posts. There will be a special category for "Dwell in the Word" so you can find the posts easily.

​We encourage you to pick a book and dig deep. After you have spent time dwelling in a book pick another one. May you be richly blessed by your study of God's holy Word.